I love BBQ sauce in the summer. It adds a little something extra to any outdoor meal especially if it is spicy! Most store bought sauces are really sugary which I don’t love. I think I can do an even better job! So I will attempt. I found a bunch of recipes online and combined the ingredients I liked the most. I think I am not the only one who would like to conquer the BBQ sauce world. If you have suggestions let me know. I would love to try anything new!

Ingredients:

Organic Lemon Juice (approx 2 lemons worth)
3 T. Organic Tamari
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2½ cups finely chopped organic sweet onion
2 to 4 organic cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons organic brown sugar
2 Tablespoons organic sweet molasses
1/3 cup organic apple cider vinegar
1 6-ounce can organic tomato paste
1 teaspoon organic ground cumin
1 teaspoon organic chipotle chili powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground organic cayenne pepper (optional)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Several grinds organic fresh black pepper
1½ cups water

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot.
2. Add the chopped onions and cook over medium heat and remember to stir frequently, until the onions start to soften.
3. Reduce the heat and cook until the onions caramelize (about 20 to 30 minutes).
4. Increase the heat back up to medium and add the garlic let cook and remember to stir another minute.
5. Stir in half of the the brown sugar and cook, again stirring frequently, for about 2-4 minutes. (During the cooking process you can add more sugar but to make sure sauce doesn’t come out too sweet feel free to build on the sugar during the cooking process)
6. Add the molasses (Add about half for now because you can always add more later), apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, lemon juice, tamari sauce, cumin, chipotle chili powder and cayenne, sea salt, and fresh black pepper.
7. Stir the mixture to make sure all of the ingredients are combined.
8. Add the water to your mixture slowly.
9. Bring the sauce to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 30 minutes.
10. While the sauce is simmering test the sauce. Here is where you can add more brown sugar or molasses or even more chili powder or cayenne.